South Africa have defeated Scotland 18-3 in a hard-fought battle in the clash at Stade de Marseille this afternoon.

Despite not many points on the board for either side in the opening quarter, it was an entertaining and abrasive start to the game.

Scotland were under the pump in the opening 10-minutes and we saw a snapshot of South Africa’s immense physicality.

To their credit, Scotland stood up to them in defence and it was a gladiatorial battle with neither side taking a backwards step. The Springboks probed and stretched the Scottish defence and won three penalties, two of which Libbok managed to slot which gave his side a 6-0 lead.

Scotland’s attack started to click into gear, but they struggled to take advantage.

Their best attacking chance of the half came when Finn Russell took a wonderful pass on the wrap-around and released Darcy Graham on his outside.

The diminutive winger dummied past one challenge, but then opted not to pass when he had to release Duhan van der Merwe.

Scotland then coughed up possession, and suddenly South Africa have a lineout deep inside Scotland's half and the chance was gone.

Scotland were physically matching South Africa but the game got a bit scrappy and they couldn’t get a meaningful spell of possession.

Finn Russell kicked a penalty just before half-time to send his side only 3 points behind at the break.

South Africa had all the possession, but Scotland were difficult to break down. They bent and creaked but did well not to concede a try.

They struggled to maintain the tempo as the South African bomb squad came on against tired Scottish legs.

In classic style, it was sheer power that did the trick for the Springboks.

They went through the phases, bashing Scotland backwards, and eventually Pieter-Steph du Toit barged over from close range, being carried over by a few teammates.

Manie Libbok’s conversion was well wide.

He made up for it minutes later, with the fly-half spotting the space in behind Duhan van der Merwe, and drops a pinpoint no-look cross-field kick into the arms of Kurt-Lee Arendse.

The winger didn’t have to break stride as he raced away to score in the corner.

Faf de Klerk takes over kicking duties and nails the conversion from out wide which gave his side a comfortable cushion.

Scotland’s set-piece struggled, and they did not offer a platform at all to the back line and even when they did, it was scrappy ball. Against the blitz defence they were fighting an uphill battle and they will leave this game disappointed with what could have been.